Backstage
by KarmicRetribution
Summary: What if each time the Player reset or died, they remade the universe and left the old one behind. What would be the consequences of their departure? What goes on in the inner mechanics of the game? Do the characters know more than they say? (Title is a work in progress, suggestions are welcome )
1. Chapter 1

Undyne stares in surprise at the red SOUL hovering over the Human's corpse.

For a being that had eluded her for so long, it was almost pitifully easy to strike them down, their defenses too slow to stop her.

They had proven resourceful, time and time again. Undyne could almost respect them, and their tenacity to stay alive. But in order for everyone to go free, they had to die. And she would take the lives of her people over a worthless Human's any day of the week.

She's taken out of her musings by the sound emanating from the SOUL in front of her, the sound of its imminent cracking. Even a DETERMINED SOUL can't survive for long without a vessel or some way to stabilize it. And that's why every Royal Guards Member carried canisters. Moving quickly, she catches the SOUL, sealing the lid in place. It gives off a gentle hum as its magic is activated, and the SOUL stabilizes, its glow brightening.

Finally. Monsters now had everything they needed to escape from the Underground!

A harsh ring startles her, though she quickly composes herself. It would be undignified if anyone caught her acting like a scaredy cat. Undyne realizes it's coming from the Human's body. Using her spear, she gently prods their body, turning them over.

They seem… abnormally small. And their face is more youthful than she anticipated, almost peaceful, as if they were asleep, rather than dead. She shakes her head. Who knows how Humans aged. In her history books, sometimes those that looked youthful were actually very old.

The ringing starts up again, and she quickly reaches into their pockets and pulls out a phone. It looks like an older version of a modern Monster phone. Who knows which poor Monster the Human stole it from.

She checks out the Caller ID, and sees, to her great surprise, that it's from Papyrus. That skeleton had a lot of answering to do.

Flipping open the phone, Papyrus's voice immediately streams from the speaker.

"HEY, WHAT'S UP? I WAS JUST THINKING..."

"Oh yeah? What exactly were you thinking, Papyrus?" She growls, interrupting the skeleton.

He lets out a small squeak over the phone, which was still rather loud, considering it was him, producing some feedback which had her wincing, but still determined to get answers. "U-UNDYNE! WHAT A SURPRISE! ARE YOU HAVING A LOVELY DAY, I'M HAVING A LOVELY DAY, THIS IS SUCH A LOVELY DAY-" He was rambling, and she could practically see the nervous sweat clinging to his skull as he tries to stall her. "DON'T PLAY WITH ME PAPYRUS! HOW DO YOU HAVE THE HUMAN'S PHONE NUMBER, IF YOU WEREN'T FRIENDS WITH THEM? YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T KICK YOU OUT OF THE ROYAL SENTRIES!" She roars.

"I W-WAS JUST CALLING THE HUMAN TO INVITE THEM TO HANG OUT WITH YOU! I'M IN FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE NOW. I'M SURE THAT IF YOU GIVE THEM A CHANCE, YOU'LL SEE THAT THEY'RE SINCERE AND QUALITY FRIEND-LEVEL! I GOT FRIENDZONED EVEN BEFORE OUR FIRST DATE, I'M SURE YOU WILL BE TOO!"

"I can't believe this. Not only were you friends with them, but you went on a date with them?!" "YES, BUT I HAD TO LET THEM DOWN BECAUSE I WASN'T AS IN LOVE WITH THEM AS THEY WERE WITH ME." She wants to facepalm, but considering that in one hand she's holding the phone and the other the canister, she smacks her face against the stone wall, cracking the wall.

"UH... UNDYNE?" Papyrus says, worry evident in his voice. "WHY EXACTLY ARE YOU ANSWERING THE HUMAN'S PHONE? DID THEY DROP IT? IF YOU SEE THEM, LET THEM KNOW THAT WE SHOULD HANG OU-!"

"THEY'RE DEAD PAPYRUS!"

There's only silence on the other end of the phone, and Undyne becomes a bit regretful at her outburst, especially when Papyrus speaks up again. "DEAD? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, DEAD? WHAT HAPPENED UNDYNE? DID THE HUMAN FALL DOWN? DID THEY FALL DOWN LITERALLY? PERHAPS THEY'RE STILL ALIVE, PERHAPS THAT YOU ARE MISTAKEN-" The denial upsets her more than she thought. "No, Papyrus. I have their SOUL in my hands right now. I killed them myself.

The silence that follows is somehow deeper, broken finally by Papyrus's shaky voice. "WHA- WHY WOULD YOU KILL THEM UNDYNE?! I THOUGHT YOU JUST NEEDED TO CAPTURE THEM, THEY WERE MY FRIEND!" Can't he see?! This was the only way! She doesn't like the way his words of judgement make her feel. "NO, PAPYRUS! They were our enemy, the enemy of our freedom, of everything Monsters hold dear! And we would always have had to kill them, it was the only way to escape, to break the Barrier!"

"They were my friend. We all could have been friends. You're right. I never would have made a good Royal Guards Member. I would never kill an innocent being." There's a click, and the line goes silent.

"Papyrus?" Silence. "Pap, answer me, please!" Still, more silence. With shaking fingers, she dials his number again, forcing herself to calm down before pushing enter. The phone rings, and rings. Papyrus would usually answer the phone within the first ring, never wanting to leave anyone hanging. The phone goes to voicemail. She calls again. Again, the phone goes to voicemail. No one answered.

She's left holding a silent phone and a glowing SOUL.

 **Author's Note: This will be a series of drabbles and one shots of potential outcomes and situations. There will also be a few headcanons of mine, so this is in no way exact. Sometimes a few stories will be related, but not all of them, or even most of them. I hope you enjoy! If you have any ideas for future drabbles or one shots, or anything like that that you think would be interesting to see, let me know! Of course, once given the idea, I can't guarantee that it will be exactly as you imagine, but I'll try my best! ^^ No back seat driving though, please. This is for fun, and something I've been thinking of for a while.**


	2. Death and Glamour and Death

**Author 's Note: Thanks to Zaravan for the idea! Remember readers, if you want me to give me an idea, let me know and I'll try to write it!**

The Human had made it far through the Underground, and was on the precipe of meeting the king. Only a robot stood in their way, one designed specifically to kill Humans.

From baking shows to defusing bombs, each element designed to end the Human's life, the Human made it through it all with their usual stoic expression. Sometimes, the Royal Scientist who had created the killer robot would make last minute saves. If one didn't know better, it would seem that this whole thing was engineered to make the Human and Royal Scientist out as the heroes.

After the last commercial break, many settled in for what Mettaton, the killer robot, says will be the finale. He can almost taste the anticipation as the ratings rise.

The Human arrives in the arena, and Mettaton reveals that the whole thing was a ruse. A ploy to get the Human to think that the Ryal Scientist was their savior.

With the truth bomb dropped, the final battle is initiated, and real bombs are dropped.

Their battle is fierce, and heated. The Human battles Mettaton fabulously, gaining ratings with each Mettaton product devoured. They even last long enough for the Royal Scientist to break through, and tell the Human how to change Mettaton's form.

As the ratings skyrocket, the battle becomes more intense, Monsters flipping between cheering for the Human, and for their destruction.

With only a few HP left, the Human chooses to forgo the chance to eat a sandwich, instead doing a sassy pose for the camera, which sends the viewers into a frenzy at the audacity and charm of the Human. Their friends watching cheer at their Human friend, beyond proud of them.

A bomb strikes them.

And all go silent.

The Human drops to the ground, their SOUL rising above their body.

Ratings go threw the roof as the news of the Human's death spread, and all tuning into the Mettaton channel to see it for theirselves. Their death made a spectacle.

Mettaton himself looks surprised, but he quickly composes himself and just smirks and poses to the cameras, casually grabbing the SOUL. Finally, he can be the star the Surface deserves.

In a lonely house next to an empty house, a single ghost sadly bids farewell to their friend and cousin. They couldn't believe that one of the few beings that tried to cheer them up was dead.

There's shocked silence in Snowdin. The dog patrol, who had clamored around the screen in Grillby's, stop shoving as they stare at their now dead pup. The pup that had turned out to be a Human that had taught them that dogs could pet other dogs. Dogaressa lets out a small whine, as her mate comforts her. Doggo says irritably, who can't see the screen, not liking how his pact is acting, "What?! What is it, what happened? Did the human dodge?" Greater Dog whines sadly, curling up on himself. Dogamy swallows thickly, "The Human pup got hit." "Well? The pup is tough, I'm sure they're fine," Doggo says, almost defensively, as if to protect himself from the truth.

Grillby, holding a rag, with the glass he had been cleaning in pieces on the ground, says quietly in his rarely used raspy voice, "Mettaton is now holding their SOUL." Doggo stares at him. Grillby was one of the few beings he could always see, due to his always moving flames. Now, the flames are still. "You mean…"

"they're dead." Sans mutters, staring at the screen in shock. "THAT CAN'T BE. THEY WERE DOING SO WELL. PERHAPS THEY JUST NEED A GOOD TAP?" Papyrus says, his normally white face somehow even paler.

"NGAAAAAAGHH!" Undyne screams, lifting up the couch and throwing it through the window. Sans doesn't even care that that's the second window he'll have to replace. "THAT LITTLE PUNK! DYING TO THAT STUPID PIECE OF METAL TRASH WHEN THEY SURVIVED ME?!" Undyne grips the tv, cracking the edges slightly. "GET UP YOU PUNK! I WANT A REMATCH! GET! UP!"

"Undyne, I don't think that's going to urge the Human to get up." The realization that his Human friend is dead finally hits him. Papyrus's unusually quiet voice somehow enrages her further. "SHUT UP PAPYRUS! THAT PUNK IS GOING TO FIGHT ME WHETHER THEY WANT TO OR NOT! I'LL MAKE THEM! THAT TYPE OF THING HAPPENS IN THEIR HISTORY BOOKS ALL THE TIME!" She can't stop shouting. It's the only way to release her fiery passion for fighting the human out. It's not until Papyrus wraps her in his arms, saying sympathetically, "I know Undyne, I know. I'm going to miss them too. I'm sorry." that she realizes that she's crying. She hugs him back tightly, and they cry together, Sans doing the best he can to clean up the damage.

And across the Underground, the few that had been lucky enough to get to know the Human, to witness their kindness, mourn.

Outside of the arena, locked behind a metal door, the Royal Scientist buries her head in her hands. This had been her fault. If she hadn't been so worthless, so pathetic, she might have prevented this whole thing from happening. The Human's death was on her hands. It was all her fault. She had just wanted the Human to like her, and now they're dead. Watching through the screen that she had pulled up, she saw the light leave their eyes when that magic attack had hit them.

The last piece of code falls in place, and the door whooshes open, too late. Mettaton has left, and the cameras with him. She shuffles nervously into the room, and looks around. For a moment, she can't find the Human's body, but then she sees it propped up in a corner. With Mettaton having what he wanted, he probably saw no further use for the body. She steps closer and realizes he probably didn't realize the Human's body would start to rot. He was probably perplexed when the Human hadn't turned to dust when he took their SOUL. The Human was just now beginning to pale, with no circulation to pump blood to their cheeks. With a start, Alphys realizes that she doesn't know the Human's name. In all their travels, they never seemed to tell anyone. Feeling a small pang for the nameless Human, Alphys uses a few drones to lift the Human's body, and leaves the arena. Might as well properly dispose of it.


End file.
